


the devil went down to georgia

by SyverneSien



Series: Sy's Helscraft Fics [3]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Redemption, Redstone (Minecraft), Season/Series 07, Slow To Update, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 07:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyverneSien/pseuds/SyverneSien
Summary: Evil X falls, very unceremoniously, into Hermitcraft Season 7, and ends up staying with his worst enemy, Xisuma.Or, Evil X begrudgingly has a redemption arc against his will.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Sy's Helscraft Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213622
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	the devil went down to georgia

Evil X was having a fantastic day.

The best day since the last time he’d destroyed the Hermitcraft server, in fact. A totally, utterly, completely, wholly  _ wonderful _ day.

Because today was the day he’d finally get to Season 7. And this time, he wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Xisuma would never expect him to show up again. He’d been banned from the last server, but this one… Xisuma must have forgotten to ban him from it, too.

Evil X looked around at the void he begrudgingly called home. It was dark as far as the eye could see, both freezing cold and burning hot at the same time, and filled with junk. But sometimes, just sometimes, that junk turned out to be something useful, Evil X thought, lifting the flint and steel in his hands to the bedrock portal in front of him. With his limited admin powers, he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that it would take him to Season 7, but Evil X would bet his life on it.

He took in a deep breath of air through his helmet filter and struck the flint and steel together. The sparks caught on the first try, igniting the doorway into an otherworldly curtain of midnight blue, unlike the usual Nether portal. Evil X hung back, oddly hesitant, but then he set his jaw and put his foot on the edge of the portal, intending to push himself forward through it.

Evil X slipped on the bedrock and tumbled through the portal, letting out a small squeak of surprise as he toppled head-first into another dimension. Everything was black for a moment (which Evil X didn’t find unusual, considering he lived in the void), but then he caught a glimpse of clouds and realized that his portal must have spawned in the sky. And that he was falling. Quickly. Towards the ground.

“Uh-oh.”

* * *

Evil X was having an awful day.

The worst day since he’d been banned from Season 6, in fact. A totally, utterly, completely, wholly  _ terrible _ day.

Because colliding with the ground at incredibly high speeds was unpleasant, to say the least, and as Evil X pushed himself up, somehow not dead, he hissed in pain as he felt some of his bones re-aligning into the right places. The red glass of his helmet was cracked beyond repair, and so once he was on his knees, he grasped the edges of it and threw it aside. Everything ached and Evil X’s vision was blurry as he tried to stand up.

Evil X lifted his left arm and the red hologram flickered into view, showing his inventory (empty) and the chat. Ignoring the pain in his fingers, he opened the chat and began to type.

**< Ev̨il͝X̶i̛su͢ma> /give EvilXisuma potion_regeneration** **1**

He hit enter and the screen flashed up a message that he’d never seen before.

**Error: You do not have permission to perform that command.**

_ I’ve always been an admin on the Hermitcraft server! _ Evil X thought indignantly.  _ Is this because I got banned? _ Frustrated, he tried it again, with the same results. And then again, after which he threw a punch at a nearby tree in rage. The block shook but didn’t break.  _ I hate survival mode, _ Evil X grumbled silently. Everything still hurt, but he threw another punch at the tree, then another. The block popped free and he snatched it up, studying the piece of wood as if it had committed a crime against him.

His communicator dinged, and when he glanced over at it he realized that he hadn’t received an ‘EvilXisuma joined the game’ message. That was strange. The message was a normal one--none of the Hermits seemed to realize that he was there. All the better for him, he supposed. His username was pretty recognizable, so it was hard for him to be any kind of stealthy. This time, it could be different.

_ And now to find Xisuma, _ Evil X thought, pushing himself off the ground (had he fallen again? He didn’t remember it). His stomach lurched and he stumbled, vision blurring into a horrible distorted mess. But he had to get out of this forest. He was  _ Evil Xisuma, _ he wouldn’t be stopped by  _ anything! _

Then his leg buckled and he nearly face-planted into the ground again, and he was starting to think that maybe stubborn independence wouldn’t work so well for him in this situation. But what else was he supposed to do? Call for help? There was nobody around, from what he could see (which was, admittedly, not much). Message Xisuma? He’d rather die! So stumble along it was, dragging his feet over the vines and bushes that littered the jungle floor as he attempted to find somewhere to rest.

As Evil X moved through the jungle, he found a strange smell piercing through the other fragrances of the forest.  _ Honey. _ Somebody was farming bees nearby--and a lot of them, by how overwhelming the scent was. He tried to look up at the trees, but his head swam and he nearly collapsed again. Without his helmet… maybe he could find this beekeeper and--he shuddered--ask for help? It wouldn’t be the first time, but he hated it every time. At least there was a high likelihood that it wasn’t Xisuma. There were more than twenty Hermits, if it was Xisuma then Evil X had even worse luck than he thought.

He could taste blood in his mouth. That was strange. He wasn’t supposed to be bleeding. Especially not human blood. He wasn’t  _ human.  _ He was a shadow of a human--or whatever Xisuma was, as even he wasn’t sure.

Wings. He could hear wings over his head, or more specifically, elytra. Someone was flying over him. Could they see him through the trees? How bad did he look? Evil X ran his fingers through his hair--as short as it could be, cropped roughly, some shade of dark brown or black--and figured that not only did he probably look awful, but he probably didn’t look like Evil Xisuma either. Which meant that  _ maybe _ asking for help wouldn’t be quite as embarrassing.

“Hey!” Evil X shouted, as loud as his hoarse, dry voice would let him. “H-hey-” His head swam and the sun was suddenly blinding. His back hit the ground but his brain didn’t register the fall until he was struggling to get back up again.

A yellow-and-black blur zoomed past Evil X’s vision, then returned much closer, and for a moment Evil X thought it was some strange bee. Then it spoke to him, and he swore he recognized the voice, but he couldn’t put a name to it. “Are you okay?”

“W-who?” Evil X coughed, feeling a dribble of blood on his chin. “I-I…” He cut himself off as he drew a raspy breath. Maybe his broken helmet wasn’t something he should’ve thrown away so quickly.

“Nevermind that,” he--Evil X’s muddied brain told him that this voice belonged to a he--insisted. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.” Before Evil X could protest, he was lifted into the air by a pair of arms. “Come along!”

Evil X wanted to say that he couldn’t exactly resist coming along anywhere, but all that came out was a groan.

* * *

He woke up to the sickly sweet and staunching smell of honey, making him choke as he tried to sit up. It wasn’t that the smell was particularly strong--though it  _ was _ stronger than it had been in the forest--but that there were so many new scents along with it that it felt like one big overwhelming stench.

Evil X kicked his legs out of the bed and stood up, a little shaky but determined. He caught himself on the wall and moved to the door, catching sight of himself in a mirror as he went.  _ Huh. _ Getting banned and spending that much time in the void had had more of an effect on his appearance than he’d thought it would. Hels, he had a  _ beard, _ which he hadn’t really noticed before this.

He took a moment to look at himself, especially the bruises that surrounded his red eyes and scarred face, then moved into the hall. Well, at least looking utterly awful and as if he’d spent the last couple of years living under a bridge meant that he didn’t have to really worry about any of the Hermits recognizing him.

Speaking of which…

Evil X turned into a room which must have been the kitchen, by the looks of things, and registered that this was where all the smells were coming from. An overdressed figure greeted him with a cheery, “Good morning!”

His brain finally fit the pieces together and he realized that it was Xisuma’s voice. But, he thought as he narrowed his eyes, it didn’t  _ look _ like Xisuma. Evil X had changed, and so too had X. Gone was the green armour, grey helmet, and purple visor. In their places was a suit of body armour in shades of yellow and a matching helmet with black markings and a pair of what Evil X assumed were antennae above the visor. His elytra were compacted inside his suit from what Evil X could see, but he guessed that they had changed to resemble a bee as well. Evil X had to stop himself from making a snarky comment.

Xisuma seemed to take his silence as confusion. “I’m Xisuma,” he said, taking a few steps towards Evil X. “People find it easier to call me X, though. Are you feeling alright? You took quite the beating back there.”

“I’m… fine,” Evil X replied. “Just a nasty fall.” He was glad that his voice was so much deeper than Xisuma’s--though they still sounded similar, Xisuma didn’t seem to notice that there was anything strange about the man he’d brought into his base. “Where- where am I?” Evil X asked innocently, pulling on a confused expression.

“This is Hermitcraft!” Xisuma said brightly. “And, more specifically, my base.” He paused and turned back to whatever he was cooking on the stove. “I’m making breakfast, why don’t you take a seat, er… I don’t think you gave me your name?”

Evil X panicked. “E...X. Yeah. EX. That’s my name,” he stammered quickly. “I don’t- I don’t remember where I came from,” he lied. Was he believable? Was Xisuma suspicious of him?

Xisuma placed a hand on Evil X’s shoulder and he froze at the touch. But Xisuma was smiling behind his gold-tinted visor. “It’s like that for all of us,” Xisuma told him. “Sad, but true.” He pulled back and tapped his helmet thoughtfully. “Though usually the, uh, arrival, is a little less… violent.”

“I tripped,” Evil X admitted with a grunt.

Xisuma hummed. “Ah. That would certainly do it.” He folded his hands behind his back. “I think you should probably stay here for at least a few days, then you can set up your own base somewhere. I don’t mind keeping an eye on you until you’re comfortable.”

Evil X felt a twinge of defiance, wanting to insist that he was fine on his own, but he knew staying with Xisuma would lead his Hermit counterpart to trust him more… and also give Evil X more opportunities to get rid of him. “That would be great,” he said slowly. “Mind telling me more about Hermitcraft?”

“Oh yes, of course!” Xisuma clapped his hands together. “In fact, I could take you to the shopping district and show you around?”

“I-I think I’d rather stay here,” Evil X said hurriedly. He didn’t think he was ready to face other Hermits. It was hard enough facing Xisuma. “Not used to people.”

“Ah, that’s fair.” Xisuma patted him on the shoulder again and Evil X was incredibly tempted to bite him. “I’ll just tell you about everything, then.”

Evil X sat down in one of the chairs and started to eat as Xisuma explained, informing Evil X about all the events of Season 7 he’d been unaware of. When Evil X had been living in Helscraft, he’d usually been able to see what the Hermits--or more specifically, Xisuma--were up to, but getting banned had locked him between worlds and he hadn’t been able to get back.

Evil X zoned out slightly as he started to think about Helscraft. It had been an awful place, really--no real rules or respect for anybody else, just mindless destruction and slaughter as they all attempted to be the first to take over and/or destroy Hermitcraft. There were some tentative alliances between the others, but Evil X had never been one for that. They also had all given each other nicknames so that they didn’t have to keep calling each other ‘Evil Mumbo’, ‘Evil Cub’, ‘Evil Ren’, and so on, but Evil X had rejected that as well. The names they’d come up with weren’t very good, anyway--though they were admittedly a little more endearing than their original names.

He hated to admit it, but he kind of missed it. At least he had company there, in contrast to the endless, mind-numbing void. At least he had things to do, land to build on, redstone to work with. He even missed some of the less bothersome Helsfolk, the ones who were occasionally helpful instead of an annoyance.

Xisuma stopped talking abruptly and Evil X looked up, wondering if he’d been asked a question. But no, Xisuma was looking towards the window. “Oh! I completely forgot that Impulse was coming by today to help me out,” he said. “You should come say hi, EX.” Then he quickly added, “You don’t have to, though-”

“I’ll come.” Xisuma would tell Impulse about him anyway. Might as well greet him face-to-face. It wouldn’t do any harm-- _ Xisuma  _ didn’t recognize him, so why would Impulse?

Evil Xisuma followed Xisuma to the platform on which Impulse had landed, trailing a few steps behind the Hermit. He still wasn’t sure how to put his plan into action--he needed to get Xisuma out of the way somehow, then perhaps take his place? That would be the easiest way to manipulate the other Hermits without them noticing. Though… he glanced between Xisuma and Impulse, who was struggling to fold his elytra away. If they accepted him as a new Hermit, there would be no need to get rid of Xisuma, at least not yet. His unfortunate crash-landing might work out for him in the long run after all.

Impulse finally got his elytra packed away and straightened up to face Xisuma and Evil X. “Hey, X- oh, who’s this?” he said, gaze landing on Evil X.

“This is EX!” Xisuma replied and put his hand on Evil X’s shoulder, making him tense up. “He turned up in the forest yesterday looking half-dead. I brought ‘im back here and now he’s settling in.”

Impulse scratched his chin. “EX, huh?” He squinted at Evil X and Evil X forced himself to relax. “You look familiar.” And for a moment, Evil X was sure Impulse was about to call him out. Then Impulse shrugged and said, “Must just be one of those faces. I’m Impulse.”

Evil X nodded to him. “Nice… to meet you,” he forced out between his teeth. “And yeah. Just one of those faces.”  _ He knows, _ Evil X’s mind hissed.  _ He hasn’t figured it out yet, but he will. He definitely knows. _ Evil X wracked his brain--had Impulse ever seen him without his helmet? Xisuma hadn’t, but…

_ Wham! _

_ Evil X hit the side of the building at full speed, clipping his helmet and shoulder as he went by. Stars and spots clouded the edge of his vision and he was forced to land, pulling the helmet from his head to assess the damage. He cursed under his breath--he’d just wanted to tag someone, but he hadn’t anticipated, well, the corner of the building being in exactly the wrong place. _

_ “Evil Xisuma?” came a voice--a familiar one, but higher than what Evil X was used to. Evil X turned around and came face-to-face with Impulse. He looked exactly like the Helscraft counterpart that Evil X knew--Evil Impulse, or whatever he was calling himself these days (Reckless, maybe?)--but his accent colour was yellow, not red. “What are you doing here?” _

_ Evil X jammed the helmet back onto his head as fast as he could. “Stupid game,” he grunted. “Xisuma gives me my own episode and I spend the whole thing chasing after winged Hermits on foot-” _

_ “You  _ are _ Evil Xisuma,” Impulse identified. His brow furrowed. “Xisuma brought you here?” _

_ “Does it matter?” Evil X shot back. “I’m not bothering you. Let me pass.” Impulse was standing between him and where he was trying to go, and Evil X glared at him. _

_ Impulse moved out of the way. “I’m keeping my eye on you.” He pointed at his eyes with two fingers, then poked them in Evil X’s direction. “Xisuma must trust you, so I do too, but…” He trailed off with a pointed glare. _

_ “Thanks, I guess,” Evil X said as he pushed past Impulse. He didn’t say goodbye. _

Evil X blinked himself out of his memories and stared at Impulse for a few long moments. How long ago had that been? How different did he look now? Were his inner fears right for once?

“That farm of yours.” Impulse turned on his heel and looked directly at Xisuma. “You were having some trouble?”

“Oh, yes, it’s being quite the bother,” Xisuma said. “You gonna be alright in here on your own, EX? We’ll only be a few towers over.” He glanced at Evil X.

Evil X waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” he insisted. While Xisuma was busy, perhaps he could poke around a bit for some tools he wouldn’t notice going missing… “Have fun with your… thing.”

Impulse chuckled and Xisuma shot him a pleasant grin, then the two departed with their elytra.

Evil X let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Xisuma was gone, and so he could have the whole tower to himself. Though, now he had a pressing matter to deal with--Impulse. Evil X wasn’t the greatest at hiding his identity; the Hermit recognized him, so it wouldn’t be long before he connected the dots.

With a sly smirk growing on his face, Evil X started working on a plan.

Once he’d dug through Xisuma’s chests and found a set of spare gear, Evil X grabbed a stack of rockets and elytra and shot out of the tower, spreading the insectoid wings out to glide to where he needed to go. And where he needed to go was where Impulse and Xisuma were on the ground, kneeling next to a redstone contraption.

Evil X landed a few feet behind them and neither looked up--it seemed they were too focused on whatever they were working on to notice him. Looking around, he saw that Impulse had left a shulker box near where he was standing, so he quickly picked it up and hid it in his inventory. Then he rushed up to Xisuma, appearing to startle him as Evil X appeared at his shoulder.

“Oh, hi- what are you doing here?” Xisuma asked, shuffling away from Evil X so that they weren’t nearly bumping arms.

“Came to see what you were working on,” Evil X answered with a toothy smile. He looked down at the redstone. It didn’t mean anything to him. “And ask if you had any spare clothes, I borrowed some of your old gear--which I hope you don’t mind--but I didn’t want to go poking around in your closets.” It was a lie, of course, but a believable one, as Evil X’s limited wardrobe of one outfit was looking worse for wear.

“Ah, yeah, I should have some that you can borrow, and I don’t care about that armour.” Xisuma waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll just finish up with Impulse and-”

“Nah, I can come back at a less busy time,” Impulse interjected. “I can see you’ve kinda got your hands full with the newbie.” He grinned at Evil X. “If you get it working, let me know.”

“Are you sure? I thought we almost had it,” Xisuma said, and Evil X could see his brow furrow through his visor.

“Yeah, yeah.” Impulse turned around to gather up some of his tools and shulker boxes, placing one hand on his hip as he did so. Evil X waited with bated breath and was relieved when Impulse didn’t notice that one was missing. When he turned back around, he looked directly at the pair and said, “Don’t give this guy too much trouble, now, EX.”

Evil X snorted. “I won’t.”  _ At least, not yet. _

And with that, Impulse gave Xisuma a two-fingered salute and rocketed into the sky, quickly disappearing among the clouds.

“Eh… come with me, I’ll get you some spare clothes,” Xisuma said, watching Impulse disappear and then shaking his head as if to clear it. He turned around and went to fly away, but Evil X called out to him before he could.

“Wait!” Evil X pulled the shulker box out of his inventory. “Impulse forgot this.”

Xisuma face-palmed. “I knew he shouldn’t have left so quickly…”

“I can catch up and give it to him,” Evil X offered. “He can’t have gotten very far.” He put the shulker box back in his inventory and received the stack of rockets he’d been using.

“If you don’t mind?” Xisuma said, sounding relieved. “I’ll go up and poke around while you’re doing that. See if I can find some things for you.”

Evil X nodded and quickly lit a firework, shooting himself into the air after Impulse. He sped off in the direction Impulse had gone, trying to spot him among the clouds.

_ There! _ A flash of yellow that was definitely Impulse. He was closer to the ground than Evil X had expected, so Evil X tucked in his elytra and dove after him. With the boost from another firework, Evil X closed in… and deliberately barreled straight into Impulse’s side, knocking both of them out of the sky.

Impulse yelped as they hit the trees and Evil X let go, getting ready for another rough landing, but then his body collided with the surface of a lake that must have been hidden by the canopy. He sunk below the surface and floundered, trying to get his head back above water, before realizing that the lake was quite shallow, and he simply sat up. Evil X looked around for Impulse and found him a few feet away, also sitting--rather annoyed--in the lake.

Before Impulse could find him and call out, Evil X scrambled to his feet and rushed over, drawing a sword from his inventory and pressing the tip to Impulse’s neck. “Hello again, Impulse,” Evil X half-growled.

“EX? What are you…” Impulse trailed off, looking down at the blade against his neck.

“Don’t play dumb; I know you recognize me, Hermit,” Evil X snarled. “And you’re going to keep your mouth shut about it until I get rid of Xisuma and take over your pitiful server.”

Impulse stared at him for a few long moments, before it finally seemed to click. “Evil Xisuma,” he breathed. “EX…  _ Evil Xisuma.” _

Evil X poked the sword-tip into Impulse’s neck and the Hermit baulked. “I knew you could do it. Now, stay out of my way, and if you  _ dare _ to tell anybody about me, I will destroy everything you love and cast your soul into the void.”

Impulse gulped. “I won’t tell anyone,” he said, barely a whisper.

“What was that?” Evil X pressed the sword-tip just a little deeper.

“I won’t tell anyone!” Impulse insisted. “Just keep my friends out of it.”

“Oh, yes, your pathetic little friends.” Evil X sneered. “Fine. Keep your mouth shut and I won’t go after… whatever their names are.”

“Tango and Zedaph,” Impulse said quickly.

“Right. I won’t hurt Tango or Zedaph if you hold up your end of the bargain.” Evil X wasn’t sure whether or not he’d have to go back on this deal, but it didn’t really matter, since a verbal agreement didn’t mean anything. “Now take your shulker box and go.” He pulled the stolen shulker box out of his inventory and threw it in Impulse’s direction, before drawing his sword back and letting Impulse go.

Impulse gingerly picked up the shulker box and rocketed into the sky, casting one last look back at Evil X as he went.

  
Evil X sighed, and turned back towards Xisuma’s towers. This was going to be difficult. But eventually… Hermitcraft  _ would _ be his.

**Author's Note:**

> idk if ill ever actually continue this, i have plans but my motivation for this fic specifically has kind of tanked :( decided to finish up and post this first part, though, so hope you enjoyed ig


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